Housing, work & access barriers

I lived in an apartment with a bank of AMI meters about 40 feet from my apartment. I began having intermittent hearing loss. My ENT had no idea, over time I realized it was the meters. After we moved, my issues ceased and my hearing has been restored. When I moved, the city I live in Nevada owns its own utility. They received Covid money to replace their grid operations, they forced everyone to take an AMI smart meter on their homes by March 2025. We asked our Council to develop an opt out program. I had about 80 homes that wanted one. In Nevada, this is the ONLY city in the state where a meter is mandatory. We refused the meter and were subsequently sued in District Court by the City. It has cost us over $30,000.00 and is still not resolved. I have seen many older compromised individuals, die or get sicker. I have seen more elderly women falling in their yards near the meters and getting injured. Many start with urinary tract infections and progress to worsening. I have also seen an individual sleeping near a meter get a brain tumor. My neighbor does not have full use of her home because she has a coil in her neck to prevent a stroke, the meter sickens her. I have another neighbor who cannot enjoy her garden any longer.

I am submitting this comment in response to HHS’s Request for Information on Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs), Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation, and Wireless Radiation Exposure. I am responding from the perspective of a parent. My family has had an EMF expert come to our home because we were concerned with the proximity of a cell phone tower. The EMF expert used appropriate tools and showed us the results. The levels of EMF were shockingly high. We mitigated everything that was in our control. (WiFi,Bluetooth, any rouge wiring in our home.) Unfortunately the levels were still way to high for our 3 very small children who stay at home with mom. We had ZERO control over the cell phone tower placed just 200m from our home. We ended up making a hard financial choice and moving from that home. We just didn't want the results to show in X amount of years that our children were harmed due to the exposure and proximity of that cell phone tower. A new family moved into that home and I worry for those children. I worry for all the children who's parents are not aware of the dangers. It needs to be researched. Publish the harms/dangers once and for all. We need to keep the next generation safe as best as we can. I support HHS taking an active role in examining the potential health and environmental effects of wireless radiation. Questions about human health should be addressed by federal agencies with appropriate expertise in medicine, biology, epidemiology, and public health, and the experiences of individuals and families who report being affected should be considered alongside the scientific evidence. I urge HHS to carefully evaluate these experiences and the scientific evidence, identify gaps in current research, give particular attention to children and other potentially vulnerable populations, and establish appropriate federal research priorities regarding wireless radiation and public health. Thank you for providing individuals and families with an opportunity to be heard.

I am submitting this comment in response to HHS’s Request for Information on Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs), Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation, and Wireless Radiation Exposure. I am responding from the perspective of a retired man and his partner. We do not use a WiFi router, prefering direct ethernet connection and we keep our mobile phones in Farady pouches, however, we lived in a condominium block in which there were many WiFi routers, which could be detected on our computers. We both suffered inconvenient health issues which we assumed were due to aging. About 18 months ago we moved to a home in an area that does not show many WiFi sources and our smart meter only sends signals once per month to the utility company. Our health has noticeably improved in many ways and there is no doubt that it was the high levels of EMF radiation in the condominium block that caused our problems.

In 2000 I started my first job working for a cell phone tower company in the Northern Virginia area. The purpose of our department was the collocation of cell towers internationally, and I was working in Business Development. Our Director of Engineering, who was one of the most intelligent people I have ever met, refused to carry a cell phone. He would say, "I know too much". When he would travel overseas, we would have to set up times to call him on a land line. He was the first person to ever openly tell me about the dangers of the radiation emitted from these devices and most importantly, the cells on the towers. We had to take a radiation awareness class to understand more about the cells and what our engineers and operators would be exposed to while setting these up. The class was overwhelmingly terrifying. Two of the operators said that since they had been setting up these towers, they were now sterile and were having many uncomfortable symptoms. They had never been told that this could be a consequence of their work. This class we set up after the fact. We were told in this class that no one should ever been within 100 feet of a cell town for more than 10 minutes at a time. Operators had to rotate while installation and had max times next to the towers. The radiation would cause permanent damage. This changed my life. Since that day I am very conscious about the locations of towers to my home, office, schools, etc. I have cancelled appointments, hotel rooms, etc because of the cells location on roof tops. It makes my stomach sick when I see cell towers constructed right next to people's homes and all over city rooftops and even churches and schools. The money that is offered to these people so they will have these on their land sometimes is just too good for them to resist. But, who is taking these awareness classes on the radiation now? No one. At least not that I am aware of. The damage is done and now it's emitting from even more devices than ever before.

It took me 3 years to figure out that my cell phone was causing my heart palpitations. When I got rid of it, all my symptoms were gone. We ended up having to leave our home in CO when 5G cell antennas were installed in front of our neighborhood. We now live in the mountains outside of Santa Fe, NM where cell phones do not work. One of the many things I've learned is that no one can question technology because when you do that you are questioning progress but it has to be questioned. We also homeschool our child because of WiFi in schools and unnecessary screens so yes, this issue has impacted our lives greatly. It's never too late to change! I support HHS taking an active role in examining the potential health and environmental effects of wireless radiation. Questions about human health should be addressed by federal agencies with appropriate expertise in medicine, biology, epidemiology, and public health, and the experiences of individuals and families who report being affected should be considered alongside the scientific evidence. I urge HHS to carefully evaluate these experiences and the scientific evidence, identify gaps in current research, give particular attention to children and other potentially vulnerable populations, and establish appropriate federal research priorities regarding wireless radiation and public health. Thank you for providing individuals, families, health care providers, researchers and scientists with an opportunity to be finally be heard on this critical public health issue.

My mother moved into an apartment with a cell tower near the building. Soon after moving in, she was diagnosed with AFib. She lived there almost 2 years and her health continued to decline. She had stomach issues, anxiety, sleep issues, etc.. We moved her out of the apartment and farther away from the tower and all of her medical problems (including AFib) slowly started to resolve.

I am writing to tell my story of how EMF has affected my life and health. I have been suffering from this for about 25 years. My symptoms are many, but the worse ones are burning skin (feeling like I'm on fire, like someone is burning me with a hot iron) and the heart palpitations. Other symptoms are: headaches, muscle and joint pain, memory loss, brain fog, nausea, irritability, fatigue, weakness, muscle spasms, leg & foot pain, shortness of breath, fast heart rate, itching, facial and neck flushing, swelling in my face, eyes burn, throat burns, pressure in my eyes, digestive problems, abdominal discomfort/pain, ringing in the ears, allergies, dryness of my lips and in my eyes. I have taken every measure to help me feel better by turning off the blue tooth and wi-fi on my cell phone and in my car, I've unplugged certain things in my house for example our sleep number bed has been unplugged. I try to avoid certain places where there will be many people with their cell phones/technology. I get very sick when I am at a mall shopping or at a church where there is a lot of technology. When I'm around all the EMR I get violent headaches, nausea, weakness, brain fog, etc. I have been getting laser treatments as needed, when my body can't handle anymore toxicity, which seem to help for a few months. Please help put a stop to the advancement of all this technology, which is killing us. Thank you, Jackie Remme

I (female, 76) have been sensitive to EMF exposure my whole adult life, beginning with living on the 6th floor of a dorm at the U of Az. in 1967, facing Davis Monthan AFB a few miles away. I was on a metal dorm bed lined up with the AFB, apparently acting as an antenna to powerful military radar thought to be ok near cities because of its elevation. I had to sleep on the grounded floor to get relief. I believe that this is what triggered lifelong restless legs syndrome, which has been very limiting and often torturous: I am in the worst 1-3% of RLS patients.Despite meds, I often have to turn my cell phone off or put it down. Laptop keyboards trigger it as well, along with flying, driving, full moon etc. all of which have high magnetic components to their fields. The best sleep of my adult life was camping, on the ground, no cell phones nearby.

I have self-diagnosed EHS (Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Syndrome). I choose to live in a rural area away from wifi hotspots, cell phone towers, and 5G antennas. And the home I live in has an analogue meter instead of an AMI (Smart meter). After 20 minutes of exposure to AMI technology (within 30-40 feet), or RF/EMF, I start to experience mood disorders, neurological problems, and pain. This includes anger, anxiety, and what feels like needles poking into my brain. After about 30-60min of exposure, my symptoms increase to include panic attacks, neck and shoulder pain, dizziness, and suicidal thoughts. Because of the prevalence of RF/EMF, I cannot be inside a mall or large grocery store for more than 30 minutes before the pain/dizziness begins. I cannot be inside smaller businesses, such as restaurants, libraries, and doctor offices, for more than an hour. I cannot hang out at the homes of friends and family unless I stay 30-40 feet away from their smart meters and RF/EMF emitting devices. I cannot use a smart phone, nor can I be around other peoples’ smart phones while in use. And when I use my flip phone to make/receive calls, I have to hold it 2 feet away from my head. And I cannot live within one mile of a cell phone tower. In the past, I’ve bought several different RF/EMF blocking materials and devices to shield myself from this radiation, but they didn’t work. I recognize that I am abnormally sensitive. I attribute that sensitivity to the 2 medical conditions I’ve been diagnosed with: The first is dysautonomia (an impaired autonomic nervous system), and second, I have myalgic encephalomyelitis, aka ME, (a chronic low-grade inflammation in my brain). Sensitive individuals like myself should probably be taken seriously. We are the canaries in the coal mine: an early indicator of potential danger. But...I’ve noticed that the vast majority of the information of EHS, on the internet, is derogatory. Some websites have suggested that suffers, like me, are mentally ill, or that we are “making it up.” This is a painful reality, but I try to remind myself that this is how it goes with new illnesses until enough public awareness is achieved. Jack Dorsy (Twitter founder) is also a sufferer – maybe he will help raise awareness someday.

It is long past time to make sure that we are all protected from electromagnetic fields and wireless radiation. Many studies have been done that show the damage can be severe, especially for higher radiation levels such as 5G. The next generation that is being proposed, 6 G and higher, will be even worse. Some people are more seriously affected than others, but already it is hard for those most affected to find places where they can be comfortable. However, even those who are not aware of it are being affected. All these forms of radiation damage not only humans, but also domestic animals, wildlife, and even plants. It would be nice if industry was more capable of restraining itself or if education about the dangers wasn’t being smothered by monetary influences, but since that is not proving to be the case, we need laws and regulations to stop the increasing prevalence of radiation before we do further damage to ourselves and our planet.